Battle Royale Skullene: Round 2 Season 1
by Familiar47
Summary: Round two of Battle Royale! Skullene is on the run from the ocean itself and she's got lots of unwelcome company! Cameos of other OCs involved! Editting has been completed.
1. Chapter 1

Battle Royale-Skullene: Round 2 Season 1

_Round Two has begun and the continent is being consumed by the ocean. Skullene must combat a new foe sent to delay her until she is overcome by the rising tides. With time short, she must fight and flee at the same time._

Xxx

The water had already begun to seep into the outer parts of the city. Luckily, a certain ex-Invader was Johnny on the spot when it came to reacting to new dangers. The moment she had realized that she had been stepping into the liquid-ten minutes after being so rudely teleported, she had retreated ten feet and examined the extremely big puddle of water that stretched all the way back to the coast line. Standing on a dumpster, she examined her options, and saw one: call little sister.

She knelt and placed one hand on her Visor. "Skulls to Panic, come in. Repeat, Skulls to Panic, come in."

A blue holographic screen appeared over her left eye. At first it automatically scanned the water, projecting that it was indeed H2O, and also scanned some nearby objects before the screen went blank. Then, letters scrolled across the screen.

_**Connection established, please wait...**_

"Pan, if you're busy making more pop corn..." The Irken trailed off as the image of a young, blue eyed Irken female appeared.

"Sorry! Sorry!" She said quickly, just getting into her seat. "Just got back from the hospital and Lok was still reacting from the meds they gave him!"

In the background, a purple eyed Irken stumbled around, giggling. He crashed into something, and Skullene cringed as she heard what sounded like a particularly expensive object break.

"Lok you moron! That was my mother's!" Paneece shouted.

"Sorry!" Lok slurred.

"Pan? Can we focus for a second? I'm looking at a very big puddle in the middle of the city...and it doesn't stop." Skullene paused as she examined the edge of the puddle out on the street. "...and it's growing, kind of fast."

"I'm on it!" Paneece quickly typed in several commands into her computer. "Ok...it looks like the ocean levels on Doom are rising, really fast, and I do mean _really_ fast."

"Estimation to when my position is..." Skullene searched for the word. "Untenable?"

"Well factoring in your distance to the shore line and the rate at which the ocean is rising..." Paneece trailed off, mumbling. "And factoring in the acceleration of the sea level elevation...and the ratio of the land to sea level...and judging from the original outline of the continent...this has been going on for...six or seven minutes."

"Wow, I sure feel out of the loop now. Amazing what being tired and walking around in the complete dark can do to you." Skullene was already off of the trash can and walking through the growing amount of shallow water, further inland rather than along the coast line-which had been nice and dry when she started. "But again, can I please have an ETA to water world?"

"I'm on it...fourteen or fifteen hours, give or take thirty minutes or so." Paneece replied. "You might want to get to the center of the continent. If everybody else is aware of this then they will also be heading there."

"So there's a better chance of ending this so I can get off of this rock before there's no solid land left to walk on?" Skullene guessed, unfolding the assault rifle she had taken from Ray the Defective Soldier. "And why didn't my index pick this up? It's supposed to tell me about all new changes to the tournament."

"Uh...I think my planting our little 'Comm. Bug' in its programming may have interfered with its ability to receive data from the tournament, or at least alert you to it." Paneece shrugged. "Take a look at it."

Skullene opened her index. "Yep, here it is. Oceans rising-yaddi-yaddi-yadda...and yeah, started ten minutes ago or so according to the timer and my clock...and look at this..."

"According to a simulation I ran, your only safe bet is-"

"The inland lake at the center of the continent," Skullene finished for her. "I'm reading all the data I need right now Pan. Thanks for your help; I'll be home in maybe two or three days."

"Good luck Skully!" Pan exclaimed.

Shen Baron himself was suddenly in the picture. He looked more stressed and tired than usual. "Remember Skullene! After this, you're staying chained to me until I'm sure you won't go into one of these again!"

Skullene couldn't help but smile at the Vortian. "Don't worry Shen, I remember, and I'll enjoy _every_ moment of it once I'm back at home with you."

Shen smiled softly. "Come back safely, _Compia._"

"I will _Franeem._" Here was one of those moments where Skullene showed some genuine affection-an event even rare for the Vortian Pirate King. "And stay away from the coffee this time."

"Too late," He held up a cup and took a deep, long gulp of the hot brown liquid. "Ah...liquid insanity," He set it aside. "Remember this. Chained, for a full month, to me or to bed, and you can't use excuses or try escaping from it."

"I'd never try that, franeem," Skullene assured the Vortian. "I'll be with you soon."

"You'd damn well better or I'll come there and drag you off that planet by force." Shen threatened.

"Uh oh, they're tracking our signal, gotta go! I can't be caught with three or four wanted criminals hiding in my house!" Paneece said quickly. "Skully, there's a transit station nto far from you, maybe you can use it to take some miles off your journey. A spare plasma cell from one of your guns might get it working."

"Thank you Paneece! Bye guys!" Skullene said quickly.

"Bye!" Everybody watching shouted at the same time, and then they were gone.

Before she could even go ten feet, something shimmered into existence in front of her...close enough for her to slam into it before she could react. She stumbled back, hands on her face and cursing in Veniran. She had her gun out and aimed in the drone's face. "Alright who's the bastard?"

"_Aw...don't miss me yet?" _The voice of Tallest Red asked.

"Red..." Skullene hissed. "IF you're calling you know when I find you I'll rip you a new-"

"_Yes yes yes I heard the many various threats," _Red said dismissively as an image of him was projected. "_I particularly liked that one you made about hanging me naked outside the palace. Where'd you get that idea from?_"

"I was stuck on Earth and looked up some history," Skullene smirked. "You'd be surprised how good humans are at making a point."

"_Lovely,"_ Red drawled. "_I called just to see if you might be interested in...a Get Out of Tournament Free Card I am offering._"

"...you're offering your would be assassin a way out?" Skullene asked, suspicious. "I don't buy it."

"_Just hear me out," _Red requested. _"You get to leave Planet Doom. I falsify a death for you. You get to stay on the Massive with me." _He smirked. _"If you accept my offer from a few years ago."_

"...the one about being your mate?" Skullene knew she'd have to put up a big struggle not to throw up.

"_The offer has always been open," _He shrugged. _"I said that before I let Admiral Riz make his routine visits."_

Her gun came up again. "Will you miss this drone?"

"_Well no but-"_

TSEW!

The drone was protected by a sort of shield. Given a few more shots she may have pierced it, but Skullene merely lowered her pistol. "Well the effect was lost on that little stunt...Red, I'll be clear with you." She sighed, smiling a bit. "If you thought you had the idea that I would crawl back to a horn sucking, antennae choking,_smeet brained,__** gluttonous, overgrown twig**_ like you then I have this ultimatum." Her voice was overly sweet. "If you try to go back on the Battle Royale contract after the tournament is over, or deprive me of my prize in any way, I will personally _**rip**_ your eyes out," Her voice became more bitter, and her smile vanished. "And _**shove **_them down your throat," She snarled. "_So you can watch me from inside as I rip your carcass open!_"

The threat was so effective that the drone backed up without command and Tallest Purple, who had been watching the conversation leaped into Red's arms, shaking. "_Red, I want my cold unfeeling robot arm!_"

"_I'll take that as a _maybe," Red chuckled. _"Well the offer is always open Skully. Until then here's a show of good will."_

BANG!

Suddenly a slot had opened up in the drone and shot something into Skullene's face, knocking her on her butt. She opened one eyes and wiped the soot away from them. Her entire head and part of her neck was now pitch black.

She glared up at the drone.

Even Red seemed surprised. _"Uh...too much gun powder that time! Adjust and fire again!"_

"**SALVO TWO FIRING." **The Drone boomed. **"PREPARE FOR SEIZURE INDUCING CELEBRATION."**

BANG!

This time confetti hit Skullene. She shut her eyes when it covered everything above her shoulders. She patently pulled the confetti off and wiped the soot off of her face. She stood up. "Red-"

"_AH! She's gonna make another threat!" _Purple wailed. _"She's gonna do it and its gonna be scary and she'll find a way to follow up and it's gonna hurt and-!"_

Red shoved Purple out of the image. _"Uh...yeah, good luck."_

His image vanished.

The drone didn't manage to cloak fast enough before Skullene whipped out both of her pistols and emptied seven or eight rounds from each into it ,piercing its shields and ripping it to pieces.

Satisfied, she moved on.

Xxx

Skullene took Paneece's advice and searched for the Transit Station. When she found it...she was not too impressed at first. It was basically a single track at ground level that had a single transport car on it that could hold maybe thirty or forty people. It looked a little impractical...but then again she had never used one, so she didn't have much to say about it at all.

She entered the transit station the transport car was parked at and checked the controls. They had basic emergency power...

And Paneece pulled through again after Skullene took a spare cell for her pocket pistol and hooked it up to the car's controls using a converter from her PAK. The car hummed to life and hover a few inches off of the metal track, held in place by magnetic fields.

"Here we go," Skullene whispered, and hit a command in. The car moved forward, not exactly as fast as her at sprinting speed, but at this rate it might get her further inland a lot faster than walking would.

Xxx

She chose to catch up on a little sleep, lying on one of the transport car's seats. She stuffed Ray's rifle and the ammo for it under the seat, hid one pistol by the controls, and kept her knives and pocket pistol on her. Skullene rolled over as the rising sun illuminated the city, reflecting off of windows and making the buildings glow.

It looked beautiful, and for several moments it made her forget just how utterly crappy her day was so far. She sat up on the seats of thee transport car, which had moved to a section of track above the streets. She sighed, leaning against one of the open windows on the sides of the transport, letting the breeze blow her antennae back. She shut her eyes, smiling at the cool sensation it caused.

Maybe her trip to the center of the island would be uneventful after all. She would get there, kill off anybody she saw, and then head home. Easy as any mission she had before today.

The car began to slow down. For a moment she feared the plasma cell was running on empty, but when she opened her eyes she saw that it was automatically slowing down because of the station it was closing in on. It was a 5 story tall public transit station with larger, faster transport trains.

Now it was just getting too convenient for her liking. Something like this never came for free, there was always a catch. A hidden assailant ready to strike, or a bomb or trip wire. Maybe one of the transports were wired to derail?

Skullene collected her gear and stuck her rifle out through the doors as they slid open. She moved into the empty transit station. With a light 'ding' the doors closed behind her. She approached one of the larger transport trains, and looked in through the canopies.

_Plop_

Skullene spun.

_Tat-tat-tat!_

She blew a small hole into a wall in the general direction of where a small drop of water had fallen from the ceiling. It showed the circuitry within the wall.

"Domnia! Save the florping bullets!" Skullene exhaled.

Then there was a harsh crash, and a groan of metal bending. Skullene spun again, aiming up at the top of the train. On it was something she could not exactly place. It looked Irken, but it sure didn't seem like it was Irken. It was clad in the rather ragged remnants of a uniform, just barely conserving its decency. Its orange eyes narrowed as it stared down at Skullene, tilting its head as though curious about what sort of prey it had just found.

Its triangle tipped antennae twitched, and the tail extending from the base of its spine flicked off to the right. The creature stood to its full height-as tall as it could get on all fours, which was still scary, its nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air. Its mouth curled into a snarl, teeth clenched as a low growl escaped from its throat.

It leaped down and looked at the now nervous Skullene.

"What the florp are you...?" Skullene whispered.

It bared the massive fangs it possessed at her in some sort of savage grin, a green tongue slithering out. It licked its lips, and that was all Skullene needed to know. When they licked their lips and they looked at you with those kinds of hungry eyes there was one of two scenarios.

The first scenario was inspired by her experiences in Painomania. The eyes were inspired from Admiral Riz, her personal tormentor. And the licking of the lips came from the guard who was always stationed outside of her cell. Indications of lust, meaning they were looking to get at you, get what they wanted, then most likely let you limp off.

Now considering he didn't look like the type of man-er...mutant who was looking for a woman. So that was where the second scenario came in, compliments of her brother, Hellion.

Plain and simple hunger and the urge to satisfy that hunger whether it is for food or for blood. It had that same look Hellion always did before his feast. This thing, whatever it was, it was a _killing machine_ down to its core.

Skullene took its first step towards her as her personal signal to open fire immediately. She had the rifle up and the creature in the center of its sights. She squeezed the trigger, releasing it briefly between bursts. Over half a clip's worth of bullets hit the creature...and seemed to bounce off, or just cracked its flesh. It growled as bullets clattered to the ground around it. It lunged forward.

"Yipe!" Skullene squeaked, momentarily losing her composure. She scrambled back and tripped on the smooth floor. She shut her eyes...

The beat flew right over her and slammed head first into a wall. It fell...and hit the edge of the bench below him against a certain sensitive area on his equator.

Xxx

**Defective flotilla**

"Ooohhhh!" The gathered Defectives flinched.

Xxx

**Paneece's House**

"Ouch," Lok muttered.

Xxx

**Doom**

"Ow," Skullene blinked. "That had to hurt."

The creature growled as he got back to his feet. He glared furiously as Skullene. He moved so fast she barely had time to react.

"_Kisgaree!_" Skullene deployed her Spider legs and launched herself back. The creature landed where she had been moments ago, and chased after her as she used her spider legs to move down the transit station's length. She folded her assault rifle up and grabbed her pistols, both of them, ripping them out of their holsters while turning 180 degrees and launching herself off of the ground. She folded her spider legs and fired both pistols at the Irken-Mutant.

The skin seemingly absorbed the lasers, and the creature ploughed into her. She was knocked on her back, and the creature loomed over her. Its jaws opened, and its head came down...only to pull back as Skullene extended her wrist blades and swung the twin bladed gauntlet at it. She left a bit of a cut on its gums, but it leaped back before she could do serious damage.

Holstering her pistols, she looked around. "Ok, bullets and lasers don't do _caragash_ against you...I need a new plan...I need to...stop...talking to myself first though!"

She spotted something on the creature's neck as it began to circle her. It was an I.D Tag that said 'LUCY' in big bold letters.

"Okay then Lucy...let's try and play nice," She said gently. "I don't really have to kill you-"

Lucy apparently disagreed, because he lunged right for her again. Skullene leaped at him, but aimed high and angled her entire body, twisting in mid leap so that Lucy's head went right under her. She rolled right over him, extending her wrist blades as she rolled down Lucy's back.

SNIKT!

In a geyser of blood, half of Lucy's tail went flying off. He roared, rearing his head back and spinning, the outer part of his forearm connecting with Skullene's head and knocking her clean off of her feet. She slid across the floor and her shoulder clipped the side of the open train doors.

Lucy turned, his eyes filled with blood lust as he held up one clawed hand and scraped it along a pillar next to him...ripping into the stone. He held up the hand, and his meaning was clear: You're dead now.

Skullene scrambled backwards, unfolding one PAK leg and aiming it at the 'door close' button on the inside of the train as she got up, leaning on one seat. The doors slid shut.

"_Now Departing Skevia District,"_ A smooth, filtered female voice said in a whispery tone. _"Please deposit 10 Imperial credits."_

Apparently Skullene's version of Imperial Credits was smashing open the control panel at the front of the car and reaching down into the wiring. Lucy slammed into the side of the train as she tried to hotwire the vehicle to go.

"_Warning, sensors indicate Level 10 Dangerous Creature in proximity. Initiating Emergency Ignition, all passengers please secure yourselves, as inertial dampener limits have been bypassed for purposes of escape."_ Skullene's antennae stuck up as she stared out the front window.

"Emergency ignition? Bypassed Inertial Dampener limits?" She spun as Lucy began to pry the doors apart. "Aw _vrik na-_"

Xxx

**Defective Flotilla**

The pink eyed Irken female known as Jen looked intently at the live streaming. "What the hell did they do to that thing?"

The broad shoulder Irken that was Zed wondered aloud. "It's able to take on plasma and multiple gunshots that would have fried a normal Irken."

The Irken with the heavily scarred face that surpassed Ray's, let out a sigh, speaking in a haggard voice. "Ray, she may have bested you, but I doubt she'll be able to last much longer."

Lead couldn't help but agree with the heavy weapons expert. "No crap, she's good. But this thing is a monster."

Ray clutched the Vortian beer, tight in his hand, his eyes narrowed. A scowl adorning his marred face, ignoring his teammates, muttering. "You were an Invader for a reason, come on Skullene, beat his ass!"

Xxx

**Doom**

The train shot to life, moving at over 500 miles an hour out of the train station, taking Lucy with it as he hung onto the side of the moving transport train. It was on a rail that went over five stories over the streets below. Skullene, after managing to get back on her feet glanced at the map displayed on one screen. The red dot near the edge of the City Region must have been her...and it was moving east! Oh happy day!

Or it would have been if Lucy fell off. Instead he climbed all the way to the front of the train and glared at Skullene through the canopy. He let out a roar that was silenced by both the wind and the fact that the canopy itself was air tight. He then began to beat on the canopy, making a dent that was slowly growing into a series of crack.

"Do you ever give up?" Skullene growled, backing away as she extended her titanium wrist blades-her most effective weapon so far.

'This isn't working, I need a better plan, and I need it fast!' She thought. 'If only bullets could hurt it! Wait...bullet...' She looked at Lucy, perched on the front of a train made of reinforced Imperanium (a common metal used for space ships nowadays...at least by Irkens, who were probably the only ones who could afford it) that was moving at 520 miles per hour (she checked the speedometer readings on the panels) and carried dozens of metric tons of weight.

If the train kept accelerating to try and lose Lucy, Skullene would reach the center faster...or she'd be squashed at the back of the train half way there. But if it accelerated enough, and if it hit something with Lucy on the front...

The Irken version of a light bulb went off in her head.

"Oh honey you are so smart," She turned away from Lucy, hugging herself. "And he is so _dead._"

Xxx

**Defective Flotilla**

"Ray, what the florp is she doing?" Lead asked, sipping his latest glass of ale.

"Either she's gone nuts," Jen started.

"Or she's got a plan." Ray grinned.

Xxx

**Paneece's House**

"She's trapped on that train now!" Loe said, panicking. "Aw man that thing's gonna get her!"

"Wait for it Loe," Envon replied calmly. "She's got this."

"Which is why I have 500 credits on her surviving," Lok, who had his personal computer on said as he placed his bet on the Galactic Net Site for Battle of Alluria. "She lives, and with 50000000-1 odds against her I win tons of cash because the rest of the galaxy is stupider than an IDIOT!"

"Aw shut up already everybody," Paneece said, eyes wide and close to melting as she stared point blank at the screen.

Xxx

**Doom**

Skullene turned back to the panels, reconnected the main controls, and checked the rail map. About two minutes ahead was a tunnel that went through a large transit terminal. The train was made to perfectly fit with the tunnel's dimensions. But if it came off the rail at the right time and hit one of the walls...it would _crush_ this monster so bad there'd be a big puddle of blood, bone dust, and shredded skin.

"Sorry Lucy," Skullene whispered. "But you won't get off as painlessly as Ray did if you manage to survive this."

She accessed the magnetic controls. The magnetic power required to keep the train on a specific path above the magnetic rail was enough to power a human village, but the system was easy to disable. She just needed a way to rig a timer.

'I might have to take a risk and try jumping.' Skullene swallowed. 'Will that work?'

Excellent question. Class, for today's lesson you must answer this: if a train is travelling a 520 mph through a city over fifty feet in the air, and one Irken leaps off of it in the opposite direction, how painfully will they splatter on the road?

Let us see what Skullene has to think...

Xxx

**SKULLENE'S FANTASTIC DAY DREAM!**

_Skullene swallowed as she looked at the monster that was about to crack the canopy open. She tapped a command into the controls._

_**Deactivate Magnetic Stabilizers?**_

_**Warning, Train is in motion at high speed, deactivation of stabilizers may result in injury or death.**_

_**Do you wish to continue?**_

_**Yes/No**_

_Sucking up her courage, Skullene hit 'yes' and then immediately spun on the spot as the magnetic stabilizers under the control car deactivated. Flying at over 500 miles per hour, the train was now an out of control, two hundred meter long bullet. Skullene stumbled as she reached the door to the next car, but managed to force the door open and rushed through to the second passenger car. She repeated this, moving faster than she thought she ever could under such pressure._

_She cleared the last car; saw the emergency exit at the back. She raised her pistol and blew the hatch off completely. Her foot found the edge, and she used her momentum to launch herself into open air..._

_And one of the following happened._

_Either A: she splattered on the ground below._

_B: She collided with the rail and her face was reduced to pulp before she fell off and _then _hit the road below._

_C: Lucy had followed her to the back and grabbed her as she leaped. She had enough time to feel her skull being split open by his hands before the train entirely derailed and broke a hole through the road below. So instead of hitting the road, the already dead Skullene and Lucy went under the road and were crushed._

_On the bright side, Option C meant Lucy would die-wait, no, he'd be teleported up to a ship before he could die. Yippee._

_Or Option D...well for all of the readers out there, that is a surprise._

_Oh, and Option E: she hits a building, splatters on it, her corpse falls to the road below._

_All scenarios involved the poor road getting a makeover._

Xxx

"...Better than nothing." Skullene swallowed, and slammed her hand down on the deactivation key.

"**WARNING: Magnetic Lock disengaging in ten seconds." **The computer informed her.

"It has a _timer_ on it?" Skullene was already running out of the control car. "Just lovely!"

Xxx

**Defective Flotilla**

"She's either nuttier than we are," Zed grunted. "Or she's about to set the record for the galaxy's biggest improvised bullet."

"Is there even a record for that?" Jen asked.

Xxx

Skullene shot the doors that got in her way entirely out of their frames, her pistols blazing in each hand. As she passed through the last car, she holstered her full sized blaster and shot the last door four times with her Vortian pocket pistol. The hatch flew off entirely just as the counter hit Zero.

The train lurched, the thrusters now out of control without the train being magnetically held in place over the long pole that stretched through the city. Skullene let out a shout as she leaped out into the open air, her scream echoing through the whole city.

Xxx

**Paneece's house**

"SKULLENE! OH MY GODS!" Shen shouted.

"NO!" Paneece screamed, hands over her mouth a second later.

Lok, Envon, and Hellion were the only ones not panicking at the moment. Lok looked up at the two taller Irkens from his computer. "Hey, did you guys know the record for Biggest Improvised Bullet in the galaxy is an elephant being shot out of a Magnetic Accelerator on Earth and hitting a Planet Jacker ship?" He chuckled. "Thank the gods for that or this planet would have been gone by now."

In fact Redella Prime was still floating around in a giant metal sphere...people just got used to it after they cut a few thousand air locks through the protective shell. The ship attached to the shell however was a wreckage...with an elephant shaped hole in it.

Xxx

**Doom**

Skullene's PAK legs shot out, and the lasers fired on full output, letting out a stream of green energy that carved a hole into the ground below her. A second later her PAK's Zero Gravity Thrusters, which came out of slots next to each of her PAK legs fired up. They were more applicable in outer space, but here in an atmospheric environment they could at least help slow her down.

The train flew entirely off the track as they approached a big building in the shape of a rectangular prism, with the track going in one end and coming out the other. Its velocity allowed it to stay in the air long enough that it would hit the wall 4.3 seconds after it went off the tracks.

Lucy, who had started climbing along the back of the train by now after seeing his prey had left the control car, looked over his shoulder, and his eyes widened as he saw the end approaching...

But then a pink aura surrounded him, and he vanished as he was teleported out of danger. The train hit the transit station and blew up, leaving a giant hole in it. The structural damage was too much for the fragile building, which collapsed in on itself. This effect caused most of the rail transit lanes to snap out of place, crashing unused transports.

The train, in the time it had been running had carried Skullene near the border of the ice region.

She hit the ground hard. She cried out as pain shot through her, two of her Spider legs shattering, along with one of her thrusters. She lay there face down, unmoving and silent.

For several moments two camera drones hovered around her. They had to move at full speed to catch every moment of her actions, even hacking the security camera in the train.

A rat stuck its head out of a nearby sewer grate and moved over to her. It had been forced to feed off of living or freshly dead creatures much bigger than it for years, so when it tried to nibble through Skullene's armour, it was quite surprised when she suddenly snatched it up. She leaped to her feet, letting out a cry that was heard for miles. She tossed the rat away, watching as it hit a wall and flopped down, back through its sewer grate.

She glared up at the sky, shaking wit hanger as she stood in the wrecked street. "Is that all you've _florping_ got?"

Xxx

**Defective Flotilla**

"Well florp me," Duke muttered as the squad stared at the image. "She survived."

"I told you so!" Ray smirked. "Anybody who beats me isn't going to die in a train wreck!"

"Sh! She's reaching for something!" Jen said.

Xxx

**Paneece's House**

"She's alive!" Paneece cheered, embracing Loe and Kay in a tight hug while Shen was jumping for joy.

"Hehe...remind me to split part of this with Skullene." Lok grinned as he stared at the steadily increasing amount of monies he was winning. He lost count after the first few million.

"Hey, what's that she's reaching for?" Kay asked out loud.

Xxx

**Doom**

Skullene limped over to the side walk and sat down against a wall. She looked at her right leg and groaned in pain. She ran a medical scan and found she had a few fractures and torn muscles. She reached into her PAK. She produced a syringe, quickly forcing any bubbles out of t with a light press of the plunger.

It was a standard medical injection, filled with added regenerative nanites that sped up the regeneration process, and pain killers. She set it on the side walk and unclipped her armoured components. She slid out of the outer layers of clothing over her battle suit. After reducing herself to her shorts and tank top, she jammed the syringe into her thigh after finding a vein and clenched her teeth until the liquid was all gone.

"Gods, I'm going to be an addict by the time this tournament is over," She sighed.

Pulling on her clothes and armour again, she slowly stood up, favouring her left leg. She limped down the sidewalk away from the wreckage, heading south through an alley.

She activated her communicator. "Skulls to Panic, come in."

Paneece answered immediately. "_That was so amazing! I can't believe you're alright!_"

"My leg is a little busted up, but nothing too bad. But I lost my pocket gun." Skullene whispered. "Can you calculate my position?"

"_Uh-huh! Let me just see..."_ Paneece muttered. _"You're a four hour walk north from the center of the continent! You just have to avoid any more encounters with giant mutant monsters."_

"Oh trust me; I don't plan on another fight unless it's necessary." Skullene grinned weakly, trying to look like she wasn't in pain. Then as the pain killers kicked in, her smile became genuine. "I'll call you back soon, okay?"

"_Good luck sis!_"

Skullene deactivated her communicator as Paneece's face vanished. She was still on guard, one hand holding onto her blaster pistol.

She was right to be, because two others were watching her. One was a young human girl with tangerine eyes that watched the Irken's progress. She looked down at the small portable computer she had taken from a shop and managed to patch up until it worked. It had pirated the broadcast signal, a strategy that allowed her to see the progress of other competitors. But she was interested in Skullene for two reasons.

One: She had just displayed an unparallel amount of 'badassery' by managing to use the train as a weapon to fend off that monster Lucy-who had chased the human girl around earlier before she ditched him by going into a perfume shop and overloaded his senses.

And Two: She was as close to the center as she herself was.

Nyx Synne Daemon knew that there was another alien out there, one who was particularly annoying her by turning into other competitors and making her life miserable. Then again it didn't afflict her too much after the crap she put up with back home.

Considering this Skullene was an Invader-or Ex Invader anyways and specialized n conquering and enforcing a little 'extinction', Nyx might bother considering a truce until the third round. She didn't have to kill somebody in this round, and Skullene was an Irken she might have befriended under different circumstances. With that and the journey most likely taking the Ex-Invader's life, Nyx felt comfortable with following Skullene.

But it also left her feeling fine with keeping the little Vortian energy gun she had picked up off of the road. It rested in the waist line of her pants now. She had watched recordings of Skullene venting the excess heat from it, so she could put the advanced alien gun to use for now.

She hopped off of the two story building she had been perched on, landing on her titanium legs. She brushed some raven hair out of her eyes. "Let's see where this carries us...Invader."

She took off after the injured Irken, unaware of-but suspicious that that she herself had also been followed and watched.

Cal slowly formed out of a puddle of water and stood up in the form of Shawn Ryder. Except Ryder wouldn't have been planning to do what Cal was. He went over to a trash can and opened it. Pulling the radio he had stored there out, he sighed. "Lucy messed up."

"He is fine and in our hands, we shall deploy him elsewhere," A voice replied. "Proceed with your assignment."

"I've got half the competitors already close by," Cal nodded. "I'll give them a few...challenges for you."

"Excellent, continue!"

Cal hang the radio in his 'belt' and followed after Skullene and Nyx.

Xxx

End of Part One! This is not the end of my entry, trust me!

Big thanks to Spartan Alpha and Ryuu-Yamiyo for letting me involve their characters!


	2. Chapter 2

Battle Royale-Skullene: Round 2 Season 1

Part Two

_Escaping the Mutant Monster Lucy, Skullene is wounded and presses on to reach safety from the rising seas of Doom. But Lucy is not yet done with her, and now she is joined by a Cyborg with intent to commit genocide, and a shape shifter with everything to gain from leaving her unable to continue her fight. The timer is running out, and Skullene is running out of steam. Can she wage war when she doesn't even know who s her ally and who is her enemy?_

Xxx

**Defective Flotilla**

**Orbit over Venira VII's 4****th**** moon**

The Defective Flotilla had chosen to settle temporarily in the shadows of one of Venira VII's nine orbital satellites. Dozens of ships were busy harvesting ore and gas pockets from all around the system while the transports and larger vessels were guarded by the war ships. On many of these vessels, off duty personnel were watching Galactic Television, following the progress of the hit reality show and tournament: Battle Royale. Some thought that once the soldier sent to represent them, Ray was defeated in the first round by Skullene interest would die for Battle Royale in the Defective Ranks. But instead it grew all the more.

On one such ship, in the lounge of the Dawn Star, Defective Soldiers were crowding in as the commercials ended. One battle scarred Irken with green eyes sipped his umpteenth glass of fire whisky. "Her match is coming back on."

"You heard him everybody, shut your florp holes!" Duke barked.

"_Welcome back to Battle Royale!"_ The announcer greeted the galaxy with a grin. _"We promised you a live coverage and we deliver! In Round One Shawn Ryder, Mint and Pepper, Quel, and Ray kicked the bucket!"_ It showed shots of Shawn Ryder being blasted open, Mint and Pepper being brutally murdered by the ruthless Benedict, Quel being reduced to water vapours, and Skullene bringing down Ray's own kukri knife down on him, 'killing' him and burying him in the snow.

But Ray was alive and recovered from the fierce beating Skullene had given him. She still bored evidence of his own attacks on her ranging from knife and bullet wounds wrapped in bandages to bruises and cuts. Her skin had been mostly melted when he knocked her into a lake, but it had grown back long ago and Skullene regained her old stunning appearance. She was limping on one partially healed leg now her arms cradling the Micro TIAR assault rifle she had taken from Ray's comatose body. She peeked out of an alley and then up at the afternoon sun.

"_Now back to Battle Royale! We have Benedict the Musical Mad Psycho! Nyx the chaotic Cyborg! Skullene the Rogue Invader! And Sancho the walking arsenal!"_ Now viewers had options of choosing which contestant to watch. There were several screens in the lounge, two or three of which were used to watch Skullene.

The ex-Invader wiped her forehead with one arm and moved out into the street, her pose that of a professional soldier. She was not a favourite by many, mostly the Defectives, who knew she had taken a big risk by faking Ray's death. She had received support from many after an interview that shed more light on just why she had gone to Doom, listing Red' s betrayal of her after she refused to mate with him to the cruel treatment of Painomania. How she was still capable of fighting was beyond most who didn't understand that an Irken didn't only need their PAK's regenerative abilities to keep on going. She was out for blood, and that was her on reason why she was still walking even after she fought off and barely escaped the Irken Mutant Lucifer, AKA: Lucy.

Many thought she would have died after she stranded herself on a transport train shooting through Doom's city at many miles per hour. That was over two hours ago, and she was much closer to the center of the continent now. But her damned leg was killing her!

"Who thinks she'll go all the way?" Lead asked.

"With a leg like that...I think she'd last into round three at least," Duke shrugged.

"If she pulls off another trick like that she might just win," Jen pointed out.

"Naw, she's a goner," Duke shook his head. "No offense intended Ray, but she's reaching the end of her rope."

"We'll see," Ray muttered.

Suddenly Skullene spun as something crashed nearby. She aimed around, peering through the sights of the rifle. "_Domnia..._Don't tell me Lucy's back to play again."

Many prayed Lucy wasn't back...they wanted a straight up fight instead of Skullene running more! They wanted to see her fight like she had fought Ray and win through sheer strength instead of dodging and weaving in and out of her opponent's clutches. They wanted blood, and they had bets that the shape shifter Cal or the cyborg Nyx would fulfill this for them.

No sooner than when Ray spotted the shape, did Skullene spin and open fire on the figure.

Xxx

_Tatatat!_

"Whoa! Shit!" Nyx swore as several bullets blew small holes into the metal wall next to her head. Several pieces hit the side of her head, but luckily they were pebble sized. She threw herself back into the alley she had originated from.

"Come out human!" Skullene demanded, slowly moving to her left to have a better angle on the alley.

"Damn, you really are trigger happy!" Nyx got up, sliding behind a dumpster. "Well two can play at that game!" She raised her titanium arm. The titanium plates shifted with a series of clicks and clacks and the hiss of pneumatic systems. A pair of guns revealed themselves, one barrel next to the other. Their power cells, something she had chosen to upgrade by using energy cells from some discarded alien devices glowed with a loud 'humm'. Sending a mental command, Nyx fired on Skullene as soon as she came into view.

Skullene stopped in mid step and quickly moved back to her right, firing three single shots at Nyx. She slammed into the wall next to the alley. Nyx fired three bursts from her arm gun at the corner, and then retracted her guns into her arm to let them cool down as excess heat energy vented from her elbow. Skullene hang her rifle on her back and drew both of her knives.

Nyx cautiously approached the corner. "Come on now Invader, I'm not here for you! We're not even required to fight one another!"

"Forgive me if I don't believe you!" Skullene snapped.

"Look, you've seen the freaks they sent out to kill us, I saw you take on Lucy!" Nyx frowned. "That oversized bug tried taking a bite out of me also." Just in case, she bent her titanium hand down to expose the edge of her forearm. A slit opened up, and a thin blade slid out.

"If you're proposing an alliance, forget it." Skullene said firmly. "I don't trust anybody else on this rock. I trusted my first opponent more than you and he's long gone."

"Who was that again, Ray?" Nyx stalled for time. "The uh...Defective guy?"

"No, he was the 7 and a half foot tall pink eyed Vortian with yellow skin and rotting teeth." Skullene rolled her eyes. "Why should I trust you? As soon as round 3 starts you'll turn on me!"

"One of us might not be chosen to continue," Nyx pointed out. "How about this? We go until the edge of the center. Then we split up, go separate directions." Translation: Nyx would follow Skullene and wait for her chance to strike if Skullene was the only other one besides Nyx to be chosen for round 3.

When Skullene didn't reply, Nyx withdrew the Vortian pocket pistol she had found. "How about this? I can give it back to you." She slowly stuck it out into the open...

Only for Skullene to land behind her, that damned set of titanium blades popping out of her gauntlet. She brought her titanium arm up and braced it against the edges as Skullene swung her weapon. Struggling to keep Skullene back, Nyx slowly extended the pistol towards her. If this didn't work she'd just shoot her in the leg and let her die when the ships in orbit picked her off.

But instead Skullene took it...and shoved Nyx aside. Snapping the small Vortian weapon up, she fired at the large shape that had leaped down to where Nyx had stood a second ago. The tall Irken she fired at dodged it, leaping onto a wall and gripping it with his clawed hands. He grinned at Skullene with large needle sharp teeth and wild red eyes...

"Hellion!" Skullene gasped.

Xxx

**Paneece's House**

All eyes went to where the cannibal was munching on a poor Irken he had grabbed off the streets earlier. He looked up. "What, want some? I have salt." He held up a salt shaker.

...Paneece hit Hellion on the back of the head.

Xxx

**Doom**

"I've gotta say Skullene, you sure know some interesting characters!" Cal said as he leaped down, landing on all fours. "When I looked at your file I found plenty of unsavoury material to use." He stood up, slowly taking the form of Envon. He knew Envon from television broadcasts of the famous Admiral, even nailing the charming smile he had on for the public. "As much as I'd like to have fun, I don't really have the time sadly."

He shifted back into Hellion. "So do me a favour and HOP INTO MY MOUTH!" Hellion was infamous enough for Cal to know about him, obviously, and get his personality down flawlessly. The Hellion look-alike lunged at Skullene, who frantically fired her pistol at him.

He knocked it aside and grabbed her by her neck. Swinging her up, he slammed her into the wall and left an indent of her there. He swung around for another impact, but then Nyx fired her arm gun at him. It burned his skin and made him cry out as he released Skullene, who rolled away and grabbed her pistol. The two fired on Cal, forcing him to retreat down the alley and turn into water, going down through a grate.

"It was that no good shape shifter!" Nyx growled. "He's more annoying than Lucy!"

Skullene holstered her pistol. "Is that truce offer still open?"

Nyx stared at the Irken for several moments, and shrugged. "Rather not have to gun for you also. That shape shifter causes me enough problems."

"Then we're agreed." Skullene nodded.

...

They stuck their guns into each other's faces and had knives poised to gut one another a moment later. Nyx glared at her coldly from behind her arm mounted energy gun. "But understand this, if you fuck with me even once, I'll dismember you and let you rot until the ships in orbit put you out of your misery."

"And if you try to double cross me I'll take those robot legs of yours and make body armour out of them." Skullene replied, her Irken blaster jammed against Nyx's forehead. "Until then, let's stop messing around and go and get that _vrik na tishanti_, together."

"Lead on, Invader," Nyx lowered her arm at the same time as Skullene.

Xxx

Cal watched the new alliance of two walk down the street. He cursed as he reformed. "Damn...I never expected those two to team up with anybody." He pulled out his radio. "Cal to Orbital Command, are you seeing this?"

"_We see what has happened..." _The first Judge stated.

"_**And we see the solution..."**_ The second Judge added.

"_**Stand by for your back up..."**_ The third concluded.

Seconds later, eight pillars of pink light appeared on the roof. They revealed...droids, humanoid in shape, with silver outer armour. And they also had plenty of weapons attached to them.

Each suddenly began to move. They activated their holographic projectors and became Irkens in pitch black uniforms with a red X on the shirts and a red stripe along each sleeve. They also had hooded cloaks and high collars that covered the bottom halves of their faces. Each of them held an energy staff that could fire lasers. They also had a blaster pistol, built in lasers and flame throwers, knives and extendable blades, grenades, bombs, and a recent addition provided by the head of the Irken Defective Infiltration Or Termination Squad: a plasma based energy sword perfect for cutting apart targets.

Each weapon had an I.D Lock on them, so that if they were handled by the improper user for too long they would shut down permanently. For ones that did not shoot energy, such as the blades would sefl destruct from a tiny bomb in them.

"_These are the latest model of Irken Assassin Mechs." _The First Judge explained. _"They are based off of some of the best fighters we could find...including Skullene from her days as an Invader."_

"_**Use these...slow them down...kill them if you feel like it...if you can." **_The Third Judge added.

Cal smirked. "With pleasure."

He looked to the droids. "Alright, first thing we do is split them up! And I have just the idea for that."

Xxx

"The last time I went on a transport, I almost died." Skullene said as she and Nyx stared at the building before them.

"This isn't a train, these are manually piloted Taxis," Nyx said as her software translated the Irken Literature on the building's front.

"Still, me and vehicles tend to have bad luck...then again all electronics have bad luck with me and most of the time it works against me." Skullene shrugged.

"The hell do you mean by that?" Nyx asked, peering in through the open doors and activated a scanner on her titanium arm to scan the interior.

"Well during my invasions my gear malfunctioned a lot. It was after the first time Tallest Red asked me out, and I know he arranged for me to get faulty gear." Skullene said. "I can believe one pistol misfiring, but _seven?_ And four rifles? And thirty two grenades failing to detonate, four scanners giving false readings, two voot runners crashing, one nano-virus returning from an evaluation to see if I could use it redesigned to only affect Irkens, and of course my favourite, the third requested voot runner's controls were locked to crash it into a sun."

"Wow...this Red guy doesn't like to hear the word' No' does he?" Nyx asked as they both stepped inside. It looked like any human train station, except instead of rail road tracks there was an indoor parking lot with bus sized hover vehicles. They both spread out, heading down two different aisles between the rows of parked transports.

"The second and third invasions went much faster because I used captured technology instead of Irken tech," Skullene continued. "Then after he sent me to be a Pleasure Drone-or as you humans call it, a prostitute, I almost managed to assassinate him. But then half the planet of Devastis shut down and kept me locked outside of his room. And then today when you saw me on that train. That wasn't the first train wreck I walked away from, just the first where I jumped out the back."

"Wow, you really do suck with electronics," Nyx snickered. "...Keep your fucking distance; I don't want to malfunction because of you."

They glared at one another, and couldn't help but light lightly.

"Touché human," Skullene nodded.

"So say you win, what'll you do?" Nyx asked.

"I have a few ideas." Skullene's eyes narrowed as she scanned the darkness between each transport. "At first I thought of having my bounty taken off and returned to the Armada, maybe become an Admiral, but Red could do this all over again. Another was to just be given immunity against the Empire's laws, but that wouldn't stop bounty hunters. Another thing...was to just be given a lot of money, maybe a planet of my own, and perhaps a race of slaves to do my bidding." That last one was a lie. Envon's deal with Purple would assure her freedom-and a rank of Admiral she did not want. What Skullene wanted was not clear to her yet.

Did she want to have her siblings Paneece and Hellion taken off of the bounty lists?

Did she want an audience with the Tallests so she could kill them?

Did she want a ship? Money? An army?

No, but there was one thing she might want, something nobody even remembered existed. But the control brains knew what it was, and they'd give it to her when she demanded it. And when she had it, maybe the Defective Fleet could help her put it to use.

It wasn't a gun, it wasn't a bomb, and it wasn't even a weapon in the traditional sense. It was something a lot stronger than any laser or missile, and older than the Massive itself, older than the Tallests. And nobody even knew that it could bring the empire down, if used properly.

"Hey! Skullene!" Nyx shouted.

Shaking her head, Skullene ran to the source of Nyx's voice, gong between two transports and slid to a stop next to her temporary companion. "What is it?"

Nyx pointed ahead...to where three figures stood in the shadows. There were no discernable features, but the cloaks they wore shifted from time to time.

Exchanging a look, the two competitors looked around for more hidden figures. Skullene pulled a small device shaped like a tube out of her pocket. She activated the flare, which glowed bright green and tossed it at the figures. It landed right in front of them, allowing the two to get a good look.

The three tossed their cloaks aside, revealing the well armed Irkens beneath them.

"Aw florp," Skullene drew her rifle.

"Florp?" Nyx glanced at her. "Is that the alien version of-OH FUCK!" She ducked under a knife that was thrown at her. It buried itself into a stone pillar behind her.

Suddenly three more figures leaped down, surrounding them. One held a pair of knives, another had a set of blades extending out of his gauntlets. And a third held a glowing plasma sword that Skullene recognized.

"LOK! If I survive this, you and I will have a MASSIVE talk about who you give your fancy plasma swords to." Skullene growled before the Assassin Droids leaped forward.

Nyx ducked under the sixth droid's plasma sword and extended her titanium blade. Jamming it into the droid's gut, she tore it out through the droid's left side...only for the, metal skeleton that was revealed beneath it to bend back into place.

"They have nano-regenerative armour," Skullene raised her rifle as the droid started for Nyx, who was looking at Skullene. "Head's up human!"

Nyx dove to the left as Skullene fired four shots into the droid. Each shot blew away a chunk of armour and melted more. It was no moving slower as its joints began to melt together.

The other five droids lunged, weapons in hand. Skullene fired several bursts as she and Nyx back pedaled to keep out of range of their deadly blades and throw off the aim of the droids holding guns. Skullene managed to bring down the damaged droid and blow away the knife hand of a second one before her rifle ran dry. She flipped it in her hands and slammed the butt into the side of one droid's head. Its head snapped back into place a moment later and it kicked her into a transport behind her.

Nyx grappled with another droid for a moment before rolling back, bringing the droid over her. She came up on top of it and jammed her wrist blade into it several times before taking its own staff and jamming it right into its chest. She snickered as she held the droid up. "Such a shame, I could use one of these back home!"

She then fired the staff's laser once, sending the droid flying away with a hole in it and keeping the staff. She spun it in her hands to test its balance. But then a beeping noise came from the weapon. She looked at it.

"It's got an ID lock on it!" Skullene cried. "Get rid of it!"

Nyx obeyed and tossed the staff at the droid she had just blasted open, which was just getting up.

THOOM!

The staff exploded in a blast of energy that consumed part of the droid...which was cut clean in half down the middle yet still was crawling towards them.

"They've got redundant operating systems and components," Skullene took out her two knives and held them in reverse grips. "Those I.D locks will make taking their weapons useless."

One droid's arms turned into flame throwers and fired at the two. Skullene extended her PAK legs and made an energy shield that barely held out against the onslaught due to expending so much energy in previous fights. She lowered the shield and lunged at the droids.

Suddenly every light in the station came on. The fighters looked towards the control booth and saw two more droids standing in it...along with Cal.

"Have fun ladies," He waved, and then tapped in a single command.

Suddenly transports began to activate on their own and shot out of their docking spaces. They went on pre-routed paths, not crashing into one another but threatening to kill the competitors and the droids.

"What do we do now?" Nyx shouted as she side stepped a downwards slice from a sword wielding droid and then slammed the side of its head with her titanium fist, knocking it over.

"To keep them from reforming, you need to reduce their mass!" Skullene shouted. "Or crush them to the point where they can't-" Her voice was drown out by transports that shot past and between the two, who were cut off and facing multiple assassin droids once the other two leaped out of the control booth and joined the fight.

Nyx retreated, rushing across open space and pausing as a transport shot in front of her. Glancing down, she scanned the floor and began to memorize the pattern of the transports. She then spun and pivoted out of the way of a droid's energy staff. She grabbed it by the back of its head and swung it past her...so that its body was torn off by the transport, leaving her holding a head that became a hollow metal Irken head shaped shell. She looked at it. "Alas, poor droid! I knew him well!"

Then she casually tossed the head into the way of the next transport, which shattered the component into tiny shards. Then she rushed through the unoccupied space with her second and third droids in pursuit.

On the other side of the station, Skullene cut deeply into one droid while the other two tried to rush her from behind, only for a transport to cut them off. They were beginning to adapt to the situation and plot a safe route to Skullene as transports shot into and out of the station, carrying nonexistent passengers.

Skullene jammed her knives down into her target as it tried to recover...and shattered both blades on its titanium skeleton. She dropped the useless blades and extended her titanium wrist blades. The Assassin droids were not given an invincible skeleton that made them invulnerable to infantry weapons in case they became defective, so the stronger titanium variant easily tore through the skeleton within. She used her makeshift hand hold on the droid to swing it around and face the other two, who jammed their respective weapons-a staff and a pair of knives into it. The droid began to pull itself free despite being damaged.

Skullene tugged her arm free and grasped its head. She pulled it down and slammed her knee into its face, and cried out in pain as she landed on her bad leg. She placed both hands on her thigh, teeth clenched. "_Kisgaree shoo-shen!_"

Xxx

**Paneece's House**

"Her leg is still hurt." Larry the AI said as he appeared on Paneece's Desk. "Thanks to the uplink I can give you a medical scan."

"Show it to me," Paneece commanded.

"Her right leg's regeneration was not yet completed, I estimate a 43 percent chance that she will sustain damage to it on her own accord...or a 72 percent chance that it will be broken by combat." Larry announced as he displayed the image of an Irken's anatomy, showing fractures, broken bones and internal damage.

"She just has to be smart about this," Envon said. "And not try any more fancy flips or jumps until her regeneration is complete."

Xxx

Skullene managed to lurch forward and slammed into her original target, pushing him into the path of a transport, but making his other companions stumble backwards out of range. She drew her pistol as the transport moved on, and fired twice, making one assassin droid jerk back while the other lunged and slammed one fist into her stomach. She barely stayed up right before it followed up with an upper cut to her chin, making her spit out blood, and then its fist came down on top of her head, slamming her into the ground chin first.

Meanwhile Nyx blasted her final droid apart. She glanced over and saw Skullene being pummelled by the last two assassin droids. She then saw Cal stepping out of the control booth and into a glass elevator that led to the third floor, beyond her reach. She aimed her wrist gun at him and fired twice, but he dropped a small cube shaped device in front of the elevator, and a semi circular shield wall that blocked the lasers. He smirked as the portable shield generator-one of the devices the assassin droids carried absorbed more shots. He tapped the elevator's controls and took the elevator up and out of sight.

Nyx growled and rushed to the circular glass elevator tube. She blasted the doors apart and stepped into the tube, disregarding the fact that Skullene was being beaten to death. She fired her arm gun up, and smirked as the elevator exploded above her. She quickly stepped out of the elevator tube as it came crashing down.

She smirked as a liquid trail came out of the wreckage and slowly formed into a whoozy Cal. "Nowhere to run now."

As she and Cal began to fight, Skullene was crawling away from the two assassin droids, which seemed to be milking the moment. She was covered in bruises and cuts. She tried to reach for her dropped blaster...but one assassin droid grabbed her hand.

Little did she know, Tallest Purple was controlling the assassin droid, choosing to make it give her a more bloody ending. Unlike Red he just wanted Skullene G-O-N-E like the last fifty species he and Red had ordered the extinction of.

It dragged her across the floor by one arm as the second droid watched. Then it straddled Skullene's waist and slowly extended the retractable claws in one hand. It dragged the claws down the right sde of Skullene's face, making her shake in fear as it stopped at her right eye...

And tore it out in a fountain of blood.

Her scream shattered windows and made viewers plug their ears. Others watched in horror as Skullene writhed under the droid in pain, now reduced to one eye, her other eye socket was now an empty black hole spilling her blood out.

The intense pain gave her a shot of adrenaline that allowed her to extend her PAK legs and jam all four of them into the droid, impaling it and lifting it off its feet.

Skullene shook with both anger and pain as she breathed deeply. The droid, still holding her eye in one hand looked at her. It slowly squeezed, bursting the eye into jelly as Skullene charged her PAK lasers...and blew the robot into pieces. As its weapons flew away ,she grabbed its laser sword in one hand, and heard the beep that signalled a ten second count down until it shut down and then blew up. She rolled to her right and grabbed another destroyed droid's plasma sword and activated them both.

The last assassin droid stared at her as she held them both in reverse grips, her one single eye blazing with a fierce, indescribable rage.

**8...**

She shot forward and jammed the sword in her right hand into the droid's chest cavity. She jerked it out and cut off its right arm as it managed to activate its own plasma sword.

**6...**

Skullene began to cut into the droid as its armour tried regenerating. She spun, twisted ,ducked, and leaped, keeping up with it and not allowing it to retreat from her.

**4...**

She then knocked it back against a wall and roared as she lunged and sank both blades through it and into the wall behind it.

**3...**

She jerked one sword out, flipped it in her hands, and stabbed the droid through its head. "VRIK NA TISHANTI!" She roared.

**1...**

Skullene turned and leaped away as the two swords, stuck in the robot, maintained by the magnetic fields around their blades exploded. She was sent flying back, but was not nearly as damaged by it as the robot had been when they exploded.

The security systems finally registered the explosions and weapons fire and shut down. The transports slid to a halt and the lights turned red.

Skullene lay on her back, breathing heavily, one eye staring at the ceiling, blood flowing from the corner of her mouth. She shook, listening to the sounds of Nyx and Cal battle. Cal cried out as Nyx got a hit in with her plasma gun, and he was teleported away before she could finish him off.

The human looked over to Skullene, who was getting to her feet, barely supported by her own two legs. "...you look like shit."

Skullene didn't reply to that. She limped over to her pistol and retrieved it. Holstering it, she collapsed against a wall, groaning as she tried to stay awake.

Nyx walked over. "...well I can't kill you...and a deal _is_ a deal..." She sighed. "I will so regret this later."

She bent down and let Skullene lean on her for support.

Now free of enemies for the moment, the two left the station, choosing to go on foot instead of using a short cut on a transport. They had enough of vehicles for one day.

Xxx

As the sun began to move towards the other end of the sky from where it rose up, they finally reached the middle of the continent. They looked at the inland lake and the countryside around it.

Over the hours they had walked, Skullene's leg had been given a chance to fully regenerate. And Nyx had taken the time to let Skullene wrap her head in bandages. Allowing the Invader to indulge in all of her medical devices that she would not have risked without somebody to watch over her, Nyx's companion was soon back up to fighting condition. Aside from her eye, she might be able to survive the tournament.

They glanced at one another.

"Been a good run, Invader," Nyx said coolly. "But deal's a deal, like I said. We split up and the next time I see you, I'm taking you down."

"What makes you think either of us will pass?" Skullene asked silently, her one eye staring off at the lake, yet unseeing at the same time. Her other eye's socket was covered by the bandages and gauze.

"Well I'm not losing, and after that performance in the station I doubt they'd get rid of you," Nyx shrugged, ignoring the emotional and psychological condition of her ally. "Well, see you around, Invader. Try not to die, I'd like to have some fun before I go and wipe out humanity." She continued onwards towards the lake, abandoning Skullene.

The ex-Invader sighed, and ran one hand over her bandages. It was like going with her right eye closed for eternity. Maybe if she was lucky she could get one artificially grown and implanted if she won...maybe. She sat down, utterly exhausted and miserable from today.

She exhaled, and opened her good eye. 'One round Skullene...one round and you're free.'

"_SKULLENE_!"

Skullene yelped as her Visor came up over her left eye-thankfully her good eye. It showed a distressed Paneece. "Oh my gods are you okay? Your eye! They tore it out! Oh gods I'm so sorry Skully!"

She heard similar shouts from the rest of the group.

"I'm fine...kinda," She muttered.

"You're almost there sis, just one more round and you're free!" Envon said. "Don't give up! We'll be right there after you win Skullene! I swear I'll pick you up myself right after you win!" His voice began to crack. "I'll get you a new eye, I'll throw a giant party for you, I'll ditch the empire for you just for the love of gods don't you dare die!"

That was rather surprising, coming from a loyalist like Envon, a freaking Admiral of the Armada.

"Compia!" Shen was suddenly in view. "Oh my gods! Somebody get me my ship! I'm not letting her go through another round! Florp the rules!"

"Shen, no." Skullene said sternly.

"Skullene-!"

"I'm doing this whether you want me to or not Shen!" Skullene raised her voice. "I need to do this, I need to so we can be free of the empire. If I can just do this we'll all be-we'll all be-" She groaned, feeling her bruised ribs. "Just please trust me, I'm not going to die here Shen. I said I'll come home, and I meant every word of it."

Shen sniffed. "But I have to sit here and watch you get butchered!"

"And I'm sorry I made you worry about me," Skullene said, trying to calm her mate down. "I promise I won't go fighting after this...not for something like this anyways."

"You promise?" Shen asked, sounding stern.

"Promise." Skullene nodded. "Now please, stop risking yourselves by calling me, it'll only make it harder for both of us."

"B-but-"

"Paneece cut the connection in five seconds!" Skullene snapped, and then tried to say what might be her last words as quickly as possible. "Shen I'm so sorry! I love you! Please forgive me! Goodbye!"

His devastated expression was the last she saw of him...

She feared it would be the last time she saw him.

She stood up. "Must win...must win..."

That was her primary objective now: get off Doom alive.

Her prize was a secondary objective. But if somebody found out what it was, they'd know just how vital it could be.

Starting off towards the lake, Skullene day dreamed of the day she could watch Red and Purple suffer while she and Shen watched, laughing.

Women can dream, but Skullene can make her dreams reality, she just needed to win one more round.

Xxx

End of round Two!


	3. Chapter 3

Battle Royale-Skullene: Round Two

This is just a bit of a...bonus chapter.

Benedict belongs to Senna1997

IZ belongs to Jhonen Vasquez

Xxx

Bonus Chapter (Chapter Three)

"_...come on its lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!_" A not so jolly voice sang.

A slender Irken female clad in a black battle suit with dented and broken blue armour components on her arms and legs sighed. She looked up, letting the fading sun reveal that one of her eyes was covered by layers of gauze and bandages. Her other blue eye reflected the light. Her green skin had healing cuts and bruises on it from her previous fights.

"_Outside the snows a'blowin' and friends are callin' 'yoo hoo'!"_ The voice was closer, coming from over a nearby hill.

"_Come on its lovely weather for a-"_ A figure leaped out from beyond the top of the hill, a knife gleaming in one hand. "Slay _ride together with you!_"

The new Irken wore a lab coat of some kind and had a noose around his neck. The blue eyed female pivoted, flexing her right hand. A pair of curved blades sang to life, extending out of her gauntlet as she took a ready stance.

Their blades met in a shower of sparks. The male Irken's momentum took him past the blue eyed female, but he quickly spun and swung his blade up, catching the edges of the dual blade gauntlet on his own. They maintained this position for several seconds.

The male Irken suddenly spun out of the brace and slashed wildly at her throat. The female leaned to the right so his blade missed her throat, and she jabbed forward. But he took advantage of her new lack of depth perception and ducked under her attack. He then stabbed her in the stomach, sinking his knife in about a third of the way before she gripped his wrist.

He chuckled maliciously as he retracted the knife and backed away, twirling the knife between his fingers. He admired the somewhat limited results of his attack-which pleased him none the less, as he had no wounds at all from the encounter.

The female placed one hand on her newest wound, grimacing in pain. She had lost plenty of blood recently. She would be an easy target.

The Male Irken laughed. "I gotta say you're not as hard as I thought!"

The female took her hand away from the slowly regenerating wound and drew a pair of knives she held in reverse grips. She and the singer began to circle one another.

"Let me guess: Benedict." The female muttered.

"And seeing as I'm one of the two Irkens left in this gig, I'd guess you're..._Skullene._" Benedict looked her over. "Heh, aside from the eye and all the blood, not too bad lookin' for somebody who got torn up by assassin droids."

"You were watching?"

"The galaxy was watching sweetheart-" Benedict stumbled back as Skullene's hand swiped across his chest. He looked down at the thin line of blood seeping from under his shirt. "...oh now that's just playing dirty."

"Forgive me if I don't care," Ex-Invader Skullene held up her blood stained knife.

"Ooh, really cold there," Benedict nodded. "Well maybe you'll put up more of a fight than those two pompous smeets I cut up back in the city."

"Two..._smeets?_" Skullene could not help but narrow her eyes in anger.

"Awe yeah, one with green eyes and one with red. Who were they again...Pepper and Mint! They were a little harder than the first twelve I cut to pieces, at least they put up a fight. The rest just cried and screamed." Benedict nodded, smirking as he realized he had found Skullene's soft spot: children.

And he was right. She was shaking with fury, her antennae flattened to her head as she glared at him with a burning hatred that said if she got her hands on him, she would massacre him. But Benedict had control of this for the most part, so he kept going. "Poor little Mint bought it first. Cut my initial right into her and watched her bleed out and scream. Pepper got it worse though, I made her death slower; hang her by the neck with this very noose and-"

Skullene launched herself forward and slammed into Benedict. They both rolled, cursing and yelling at one another. Skullene had Benedict pinned to the grassy ground for a moment and reared back one knife in preparation to gut him. Benedict caught her hand and then struck her with his left fist, which was out of sight of her view due to her right eye being gone. She rolled off of him, carried by the force of the punch.

They both clashed again, knives out and cutting through the air instead of one another. Benedict got unlucky and took a kick to his ribs, but stayed on his feet and cut another shallow wound into Skullene. They resumed their knife fight for several more seconds and then circled one another.

"Aw, the big Invader has a soft spot for the kiddies!" Benedict cooed mockingly. "That's just so cute! I think they might have been considered teenagers to the humans, but compared to somebody like you and me...I'd say they were _this close _to growing up_._" He held up a finger and a thumb just an inch apart. "Well Pepper and Mint were. This one time I picked a smeet up out of its pod before it could even get a PAK and hang it for some quick laughs."

Skullene took out one of her push knives and flicked its secondary 'sickle' side blade open. She jabbed at him within the blink of an eye after opening it, but only succeeded in cutting open his side before the hilt of his knife slammed her across the face, knocking her down. She rolled onto her side as he kicked her once, making her lose hold of her knife.

"You spent too much energy on those other attackers, Invader," Benedict said as he took the noose off of his head. "But don't worry; Doctor Benedict will make the pain go away. I'll also make you feel better about those smeets I told you about."

Skullene felt the noose slip around her neck. She gasped in pain as Benedict began to drag her across the grass by the noose, choking Skullene. She struggled, grasping at the noose and digging her heels into the ground. Benedict began to hum a song as he looked around, and snapped his fingers as he spotted a nearby cliff.

"_If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands._" He sang as he walked over to the edge of it. "_If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands._" He kept up this song until he reached the edge of the cliff.

"Let's just leave a little calling card for you, dearest," Benedict took his knife and cut down through Skullene's battle suit. She gasped in pain as he slowly carved a B into her upper body. By the time it was over, she was limp, paralyzed with pain.

Benedict smirked down at Skullene, and noticed a lovely looking branch sticking out of the cliff face just a few feet below. He tied the noose around it and proceeded to remove Skullene's blades and guns. _"If you're happy and you know it and you really wanna show it. If you're happy and you know it-" _He chuckled. "_Snap your neck._"

He kicked Skullene off. She fell for a brief second, and then the noose constricted around her throat. Her one eye shot open and she let out a choked gasp as she clutched at the noose, writhing and whining, close to death as it was.

"I'll come back for my noose soon." Benedict chuckled. "Ta-ta for now, gorgeous." He then walked off, singing another song. "_Ring around the Rosie! Pockets full of posies!_"His voice faded as Skullene's oxygen slowly decreased. _"Ashes, ashes..."_

She let out one last gurgle, and blacked out for several moments.

"_We all fall down!"_

She blacked out momentarily, but was brought back to the waking world by a new voice.

"_Skullene!"_ Her Visor's communicator beeped. "_Skullene, don't black out again! If you do you'll die!_"

Skullene let out a strangled moan which came out as more of a weez.

She managed to bring one hand up and grasped the noose's rope. She tried to pull herself up or loosen the noose, but she was barely able to summon any strength to her limbs.

"_Skullene, listen to me."_ Paneece said calmly. _"You have to do something, right now, or you will die within the next fifty four seconds."_

'If I could do anything I would have already.' Skullene thought as her vision began to swam. 'Looks like I won't be seeing Shen...'

"_Skullene!"_

'Shut up already!' She thought at the annoying voice. 'Gods if I had my weapons right now I'd-.'

Skullene paused. Benedict had taken her weapons...but she remembered the one thing Benedict hadn't taken from her. As Paneece hollered at her through the radio, Skullene managed to send one command to the PAK through her clouded mind. Her spider legs unfolded, and dug into the cliff face. Two of them grasped the branch and tried to pull Skullene up.

Her one good eye began to water as the pressure in her head built. She clenched her teeth and ordered her PAK systems to cooperate. The pressure eased as the rope slackened. She grasped the noose with her two real hands and managed to loosen it enough to take one deep breath. She grasped the edge of the cliff and pulled herself up, slipping the noose off of her neck.

Step One: Get out of trap.

Step Two: Kick Benedict's ass.

Step Three: Get weapons back.

When Paneece tried to speak to the Invader, Skullene cut the link immediately. She had only one thought on her mind: blood.

Xxx

Benedict whistled as he peered through the scope of his new rifle. "Pretty nice tech the girl had."

He paused as he saw a shape down on a field below, heading for the lake. He recognized the blue haired cyborg girl: Nyx. "Ah, lovely, I can off two of them."

He raised the rifle and slowly took aim, focusing the optics on Nyx's head.

'Adjust for target velocity...wind velocity and direction... height difference...' Benedict smirked. 'Perfect...good bye bitchy little cyborg girl-.'

THUNK! A rock bounced off his head, making him drop the rifle, which set off one round. It flew over nearly a mile and hit the ground right next to Nyx, who spun and looked around, gun arm exposed. The cyborg girl looked around cautiously.

Meanwhile back with Benedict, he turned to see one _extremely pissed_ Irken woman. He saw his noose held in one of her hands and immediately reacted. Skullene's anger was stuff of legends, and usually meant she was about to butcher somebody or blow something up. And since grass didn't explode that left poor unfortunate _him_ as the only candidate for her wrath. He snatched his rifle up and fired at her.

She slid down into a ditch and behind some rocks, which were shattered into fragments by the high powered plasma coated bullets. Benedict noticed that she had left his noose at the top of the ditch. Side stepping towards it, he scanned the shallow river and reeds at the bottom for her. It led into a nearby cave; she could already be long gone!

He knelt down and scooped the noose up, securing it in its usual fashion around his neck. He looked at the Micro TIAR and grimaced. He was not much of a marksman, but he knew how to use a gun when it counted like any Irken worth his or her PAK.

But another problem the average Irken-and in this case Benedict shared was that they could spend a second too long examining something to notice the danger they were in until a _second_ rock hit him in the face. He dropped the rifle and placed both hands between his eyes where it had struck him. "AGH! What are you, a _smeet?_"

At that moment, she came charging up the slope, moving up on all fours and launching herself at him.

He reached for the Irken blaster he had taken from her, but she caught his wrist as it came up and her other hand hit his right cheek with a cross punch. The gun was snatched from his hand, along with the Vortian pocket pistol from his belt. He cursed and tried to run, knowing she had all of the ranged weapons now. But many of the knives and ammo clips, improperly stored on his person were weighing him down.

Cursing repeatedly, he unclipped the bag of rifle ammo and let it drop. The two larger daggers joined them next. He rolled, letting a laser fly over him, and came up with one of Skullene's push knives out. He tried to figure out how to properly hold it, flicking its sickle blade out and sluggishly swung it. He was used to the larger, jagged knife he used, not the light, thin, tiny push blades meant for stabbing-and ripping rather than carving.

Skullene had quickly holstered her two pistols and ducked under Benedict's outstretched arm, hit him in the gut with one fist, followed up with an uppercut from her other to his chin, and then launched herself up, slamming her right knee into his face and knocking him down on his back. Skullene snatched the push knife, and he extended the wrist mounted blades he had stolen from her. Skullene quickly chopped his wrist with her free hand, forcing his fingers to release the push knife. She snatched it in mid fall and swung once, leaving a cut across Benedict's side. It was shallow, not lethal as she had wanted.

The doctor shoved her hard, and she stumbled back to the slope and then rolled back down into the ditch she had hidden in. Benedict took out another knife and pursued her, but by the time he reached the bottom she had climbed down into the cave he had spotted earlier.

Blade in hand, the Irken Scientist/Psychopath crouched through the entrance. His PAK's lights illuminated the cave, showing shallow rivers of water that were confirmed by his PAK sensors to have the water nano bots that would prevent it from burning him or Skullene. But that also meant Skullene could be hiding in one of the shallow pools.

He found some more shallow water that reached his ankles instead of his knees and looked around.

"_It's raining, it's pouring,"_ He sang as he scanned the cave.

"_The old man is snoring,"_ He spotted some movement in the water, a mere shimmer.

"_He bumped his head,"_ Benedict's free hand had another of the push knives in its grasp a second later, and flicked it open to its full length. _"On the foot of the bed,"_

He crouched. _"And he couldn't get up-"_ He lunged. "_IN THE MORNING!_"

He hit the water with a splash, sending droplets everywhere. He cackled as he stabbed at his prey repeatedly ,sending clouds of blood from its body that stained the water. When it stopped moving, he stood up, grinning. "Let's take a look at that pretty face."

He aimed his PAK lights down at it...

And saw a giant crocodile like creature. It had been caught off guard and his assault had been vicious and killed it almost immediately. Its blood turned the water red, and stained his pants and coat below the knees.

Grumbling, he looked down at the knives. "Well she has good taste, you really do kill quickly."

"They're my personal favourite," Benedict moved so fast he made a whistling sound as he swung one blade in a back handed swing as he spun clockwise to face the source of the voice. Skullene's words seemed to come from all around though.

"In Veniran Culture, they also represent their demons," Skullene continued. "Creatures with scythes for hands that ripped you open until your skin falls off of its own accord. The sickle blade represents that. That is why a Veniran assassin...is called a _Devil _in our language_._"

This broad was really starting to creep Benedict out with all of her facts on a culture she had conquered years ago. He swallowed and edged towards the cave mouth.

"And do you know where Veniran Demons always liked to hide? Before they come out at night and snatch naughty brats like you? Or where their Devils were most at home at?" Skullene stalked him through the water filled cave.

It was like she was whispering in his ear. _"In caves, where nobody can hear you scream, but nobody can watch you bleed."_

Benedict swung again, and his blade came back with a drop of Irken blood on it. He smirked. "You're not so invincible as you like to think Skullene!"

He crawled out of the cave and rushed back up the grassy slope. He'd just grab the rifle and ammo and see if he could get a few lucky shots in when she tried to get out of the-

THOOM!

A hole was blown in the ground a foot ahead of him towards the top. Scrambling back so as not to fall in, Benedict almost tumbled down the slope, only for a hand to catch him. Skullene leaped out of the hole and swung Benedict towards the top.

He landed and rolled on his back. The next moment she was straddling his waist. "They also like to wait in holes so just when you think you're safe," She stopped his hand from jamming one knife into her gut and quickly aimed her own push knife at his eye. "You get an extra surprise before you _die_!"

Benedict frantically tried to hold her hand away from his eye, knowing she could rip him apart unless he did something.

"Drop your blades if you want to live," She growled. "I'm taking my stuff back, and I'd gladly cut out your eye. Maybe I can transplant it to me. That is ,supposing you don't drop the florping knife!"

After several moments of struggling to push his blades into her gut, right in the middle of the jagged B he had carved there, Benedict glanced at the wicked sharp push knife she held and relaxed his blade arm. Skullene whispered. "Here is how this will work. Retract the blades. No questions, and no wasting time, do it now."

Benedict obeyed, and lowered his arm to the grass. "Well I always suspected this position was more of something Tallest Red dreamt of-"

She held the knife to his throat and slid her gauntlet off of his wrist. "I saw you were about to go after Nyx. I'd rather take her myself later and for you to just die here, but...I have an even better idea."

"Oh what, are you going to torture me?" Benedict taunted her.

"No," Skullene smirked. "You're going to have an uneventful death. No big bang to go out on, you get to live until the Tallest decide who dies."

"...it's an even chance for all of us."

"It's a matter of perspective," Skullene corrected him, taking back her push knives next and then leaped off of him. He scrambled to his feet. "Let's just say I'm confident in passing. If you survive this round also, then I'll get to kill you on live TV."

"You'll get to try," Benedict said. "I won't get cocky over your wounds again."

"I didn't think you would," Skullene said, picking up her retrieved weapons. "I'm counting on you not as being so high and mighty with me if we fight again."

"Who's to say I won't just cut your throat as you walk-" Benedict, who had moved behind Skullene jabbed his knife at her as she examined her wrist blades for damage. She spun so fast Benedict barely had time to pull his knife back and save his entire arm by leaping out of range of the wide swing she made with the wrist blades, now extended to their full length-he had only mastered them enough to make them extend to half their total length with his hand flexes. She would have ripped off his knife arm and disembowelled him with that one swing, maybe decapitated him.

They stared into one another's eyes, blue to green before Benedict sighed.

"The only down side to this I can think of is that I couldn't even kill somebody with one eye." The insane singing Irken straightened out his lab coat. "Might want to get a professional to look at that sometime."

"Is that an offer or are you not 'that' sort of doctor?" Skullene didn't relax her stance. "It's actually not too bad having one eye...once you get used to it entirely."

"I'm a scientist, not a surgeon, you're out of luck for now," Benedict, still aiming his knife blade at Skullene replied.

"Which is why I'm going to keep going for the safety zone," Skullene replied, adjusting all of her regained equipment. "And if you _ever_ steal from me or another lady again, or if you hurt any more smeets I'll hunt you down and hang you with that rope."

Benedict rolled his eyes. "Isn't is a little late to play altruistic? You've killed three planets worth of inhabitants. Men, women and children." He chuckled. "Doubt I could do any worse than you-"

Their blades clashed, and Skullene was pressing him back.

"Let me correct myself," She hissed. _"If against the will of the gods you survive this and go on to harm more younglings of any race, I __**will hunt you down and hang you by your testicles until they burst and then I'll make your antennae into a noose for your slimy little neck! **_**GOT IT?**_"_

Shaking a bit, Benedict nodded.

Skullene pulled back her blade...and gave him a brief punch across the jaw. "That was for hanging me!" She backed away, keeping her one good eye on him at all times in case he tried to attack her.

As Skullene slowly vanished into the distance, Benedict swallowed. "...that she-devil really is scary when she's mad."

Xxx

_**On the Massive...**_

"Oh he has no idea," Purple giggled. "That was better than when she insulted you in Veniran!"

Red, who had a set of reading glasses on was looking at a book that said 'An Idiot's Guide to the Veniran Language, by Fam-eel-ee-arfor Teece-evv-enn of Oiratno Adanac' grumbled. "I still can't find out what the word '_Sinetebus'_ means."

Xxx

Skullene, now pumped from her bout of righteous anger was not slouching as she made strides across the grass towards the lake. She was as determined as ever to achieve victory now.

Xxx

End of ze Bonus Chapter!

Sinetebus means 'he who is without testicles' and is based on the latin words 'sine testibus'

Oh, and Skullene is missing an eye, that is her injury for bonus points.


End file.
